PubMed recently introduced a new search interface. It's pretty similar to the old interface, so should be fairly simple to pick up.
If you'd like more information and tutorials on the new interface then take a look at the PubMed Online Training Page.
Below are a few tips you might find useful.
How does PubMed do a keyword search?
Even if you use PubMed a lot you may not realise how it is searching, as it automatically adds keyword variations and maps your keywords to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
If you want to see exactly what search PubMed has conducted, based on the words you typed in, then you can now do this under the Advanced Search option.
Conduct your search:
This will take you directly to the results page:
From the results page click on the ADVANCED option just under the search box. Once on the Advanced page scroll down to your search history and click on the Details Arrow:
Now you can see exactly what PubMed searched on when inputting 'diabetes type 2 and exercise'
For a more detailed demonstration of this see the PubMed Subject Search - How it Works Quick Tour
This is a really great feature if you're doing a quick search, as it will automatically look for variations for you.
However, if you need to do a more controlled search, e.g. for a systematic review, then you might want to build the search using the Advanced Search Builder page from the start, or use the Ovid Medline interface provided by the University Library.
Filtering your PubMed Results
If you've found too many results to deal with then you might want to try a different search strategy, or use the filters on the left-hand side of the results screen:
Once you've found some results of interest then you might want to export them to reference management software or elsewhere.
Click the Send To option at the top of the results:
If you'd like more information and tutorials on the new interface then take a look at the PubMed Online Training Page.
Below are a few tips you might find useful.
How does PubMed do a keyword search?
Even if you use PubMed a lot you may not realise how it is searching, as it automatically adds keyword variations and maps your keywords to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
If you want to see exactly what search PubMed has conducted, based on the words you typed in, then you can now do this under the Advanced Search option.
Conduct your search:
This will take you directly to the results page:
From the results page click on the ADVANCED option just under the search box. Once on the Advanced page scroll down to your search history and click on the Details Arrow:
Now you can see exactly what PubMed searched on when inputting 'diabetes type 2 and exercise'
For a more detailed demonstration of this see the PubMed Subject Search - How it Works Quick Tour
This is a really great feature if you're doing a quick search, as it will automatically look for variations for you.
However, if you need to do a more controlled search, e.g. for a systematic review, then you might want to build the search using the Advanced Search Builder page from the start, or use the Ovid Medline interface provided by the University Library.
Filtering your PubMed Results
If you've found too many results to deal with then you might want to try a different search strategy, or use the filters on the left-hand side of the results screen:
Exporting your PubMed Results
Once you've found some results of interest then you might want to export them to reference management software or elsewhere.
Click the Send To option at the top of the results:
To export to reference management software choose Citation Manager. This will then create a file that can be imported into software, such as EndNote:
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There are lots more tips on the PubMed Online Tutorials page, such as searching for authors and setting up email alerts.